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POLITICO 44

Former Washington Post blogger Dave Weigel has joined MSNBC as a paid contributor, the cable network announced Monday night.

“Countdown,” host Keith Olbermann made the announcement on his show, introducing Weigel as "an MSNBC contributor…. Welcome Dave," he said."And you thought last week was fun, wait until you see what this week holds for you.”

At the conclusion of the interview focused on a tea party candidate in Alabama, Olbermann again highlighted Weigel as an “MSNBC contributor."

“Good luck with this,” Olbermann said.

Weigel later thanked Olbermann on Twitter, explaining that the arrangement is “just a way to keep coming on as I get my next reporting gig.”

Weigel left the Washington Post last week after it was reported that the blogger disparaged many of the conservatives he covers in e-mails to the now-defunct liberal list serve Journolist.

One quote from the Caller piece, however, went too far even for an opinion journalist:

After Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat, threatening to kill the health care legislation by his presence, Weigel stressed how important it was for reporters to highlight what a terrible candidate his opponent Martha Coakley had been.

"I think pointing out Coakley's awfulness is vital, because it's 1) true and 2) unreasonable panic about it is doing more damage to the Democrats," Weigel wrote.